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View Poll Results: Do you want Stephen Russell to be the voice of Garrett?

I don't think even SR could save this bomb. In fact I am personally glad he WASN'T involved.

It would still be a bad game. There are too many serious gameplay flaws to deny that. But it would be a bad game, with a good voice acting performance from the main character. Which affects more than you would think.

The narrative's primary emissary (in Thief games, anyways) is the main character. There are readables, overheard conversations, and of course the odd cutscene... but the world doesn't 'come alive' until Garrett begins commenting on the world around him. At that point it gains context and realism. Bad voice acting does serious harm to the player's ability to identify the story as relevant to them.

And with so many mainstream reviews lambasting both the story and the voice acting in fairly equal amounts...? I tend to think that isn't a coincidence.

"Stephen Russell is missed as a vocal talent (not least because of his ability to put a voice to multiple characters,) but even he couldn’t save some of this material from sounding like over-eager fan-fiction."

"What’s a bit less impressive is the voice acting and mixing of sound. At some points it’s difficult to hear what’s being said in the (sometimes too frequent) cutscenes, and at others the acting can be awkward and unrealistic."

The only one of these quotes that says something about Orzari is from The Escapist, and it says he's not terrible. IncGamers actually says in their review, "New voice actor Romano Orzari doesn’t do a bad job". I'm inclined to agree, especially given the material that he had to work with.

The only one of these quotes that says something about Orzari is from The Escapist, and it says he's not terrible. IncGamers actually says in their review, "New voice actor Romano Orzari doesn’t do a bad job". I'm inclined to agree, especially given the material that he had to work with.

Who said anything about embracing? He doesn't do a bad job. It that so difficult to admit?

In fact, I'd go as far as saying that I wouldn't particularly mind hearing him again in a different role. He's not a terrible voice actor to be avoided at all costs.

Yeah, you're wrong. He's exceptionally bad.
And actually, as bad as he is as NuGarrett? He's easily 1,000 times worse as 'RomanoGuard'. So it seems he's just as wooden in supporting roles as starring ones.

Heck, he was pretty bad as 'Dude-Who-Has-Three-Entire-Lines-and-Dies-in-The-Very-First-Scene' in Punisher: War Zone. He just isn't a good actor. And especially set against how incredible Russell's voicework was in the past? It's a major detriment to the player's ability to lock into the story.

Also, defending Romano by saying 'Yeah, everyone says the voice acting is bad... but only one of them singles out Romano as being awful'? Really?

So, the voice acting is bad... but the guy who provides 75% of it isn't? Are you high?
If his performance wasn't bad... no one would be complaining about the voice acting! It wouldn't be worth mentioning! That's like saying 'my lawn looks terrible, but the guy who mowed it did a fantastic job.'

Also, defending Romano by saying 'Yeah, everyone says the voice acting is bad... but only one of them singles out Romano as being awful'? Really?

None of them single Romano out as being awful. In fact, two of them specifically state that he isn't.

Originally Posted by Captain Spandex

So, the voice acting is bad... but the guy who provides 75% of it isn't? Are you high? If his performance wasn't bad... no one would be complaining about the voice acting! It wouldn't be worth mentioning! That's like saying 'my lawn looks terrible, but the guy who mowed it did a fantastic job.'

First of all, you are aware that he doesn't actually do 75% of the lines, right? In fact, apart from cutscenes and the hand-holding remarks/observations, he's mostly silent. The hyperbole isn't really helping anyone.

Secondly, bad voice acting being mentioned doesn't mean that every single one of the voice actors has to be bad or even that a specific one has to be bad. The reviews could be referring to Erin/Orion, who actually are bad.

Hey, Captain Bananapants? Can you do us all a favour and never subject us to another one of your horrible videos? You're not funny, you're not witty, the name "Rageaholic" is hugely diagnostic of the quality of your videos (you're not James Rolfe, you don't get to rip off his schtick, let alone badly) and you've proven yourself to be a shining example of what's wrong with Thief fandom and PC gamers at large. And your behaviour in this thread is just embarrassing.

What behavior?
I never called names. Although you have.
I didn't cast personal aspersions. Although, again, you have.

I said Romano's bad at voice acting. And he is.
He bludgeons the audience to death with the wooden end of the acting stick. This isn't a revelation. This dude phoned in his lines from orbit. There are threads upon threads upon threads (both here and at the Thief 4 forums) dedicated to dissecting his poorly-read voice acting performances. You're literally posting in one. So many were springing up at the Thief 4 forums, Eidos had to resort to insta-bans, much of which is documented in the earlier pages of the thread you are posting in right now.

There are threads upon threads upon threads (both here and at the Thief 4 forums) dedicated to dissecting his poorly-read voice acting performances. You're literally posting in one.

And here I was, thinking this thread was about Stephen Russell. My bad. It's apparently dedicated to Romano instead.

I'd love to see the examples of the other threads on TTLG that are dedicated to Romano's performance, though. Not ones that critisise the writing, which it rightly deserves. Ones that specifically deal with Romano's voice acting.

This isn't the personal comment thread, dethtoll, so less hate and more cuddly please. I'm not sure whether the rest of this conversation is going particularly well either as it's sounding rather snarky at the moment. Possibly this thread has come to the end of its useful shelf life. We'll see.

Both Starker and CS are having a heated debate, and that's fine...enter dethtoll, and you have an unwelcome guest who brings nothing but valueless personal attacks for his own gratification.

And what did your own personal attack offer to this conversation?

I almost can't believe that I'm saying this, but as Garrett's voice I don't really miss Stephen Russell that much. Sure Romano sounds different, and Stephen Russell was of course great as well, but the old Garrett and this new Garrett aren't exactly the same characters anyway. Some of the stuff that Romano says does sound a bit silly, but it's not exactly his fault if the dialogue is badly written. As a voice actor I think he's really good. I got to admit though that I don't normally pay as much attention to these things as some other people probably do.

However, what I do miss in the new Thief game are the other characters voiced by Stephen Russell. He did a fantastic job in Thief 1-3 and really brought some of those characters alive, whereas some of the voice acting in new Thief is quite boring and just mediocre.

As for that video by Captain Spandex, I find it way too exaggerated and "acted" to be taken seriously. The video itself seems well made and it's something that I might otherwise enjoy watching, but the guy's trying way too hard to be edgy and the forced swearing makes me cringe at times. I don't have anything against the occasional naughty word, but this sort of thing isn't even cool if you're over 15 or unless you are Samuel L. Jackson.